Threads of Evidence: Polarized Light Microscopy for Funerary Textile Identification from an Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Philadelphia Burial Ground

The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia (FBCP) burial ground was excavated in 2017 after being discovered during construction in historic Philadelphia (Leader et al., in press). Burial records indicate its use from ca. 1702–1859. Skeletal remains of approximately 491 individuals, along with associated funerary goods, including coffins and coffin furniture were recovered from the archaeological excavations. Across historical burial grounds, textiles are often infrequent due to a lack of preservation, or are understudied due to the inability to identify the fabrics. These disadvantages highlight the need for the increased sharing of methods for textile identification, and discussion of historical funerary textiles. Like many burial ground sites, a large number of shroud pins was recovered at FBCP yet only a small sample of textile material (n = 12) was preserved. Here we use polarized light microscopy (PLM) to identify textile fibers and weaves, and discuss these using other comparable funerary textile examples.